August 24, 2012

By Zach Foor

This year, the Residence Halls Association is looking to bring its event planning and student involvement to the next level. The new student event planning association is called the Programming Board.

“Programming Board is something that we’re doing new this year,” RHA programming coordinator Kenton Gewecke said. “We’re going to plan these major events and they’re going to be bigger and better than they ever have been.”

Gewecke said the board has come up with a few of the major events. One event was “Paint it Pink Week,” a week-long event where the RHA focuses on raising breast cancer awareness. It is being held on Oct. 7-14.

“We’re going to plan events like the Mizzou Singing Bee,” Gewecke said. “It’s the first time that we’ve ever had the event and I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be really good.”

Gewecke said Mizzou Dance Crew auditions are coming up in November. Those selected to the Dance Crew will perform during the spring semester.

He also said the Pinterest Craft Night, which was a very popular event last year, will also be bigger and better.

“I’m going to open it up and ask for suggestions,” Gewecke said. “The Programming Board will pitch ideas for their own events, and we’re going to build something from scratch that we think students would like. Programming Board is going to be really cool this year. I’m really excited.”

RHA President Zack Folk said he has high hopes for the new association.

“I think the Programming Board is going to be fantastic this year,” Folk said. “It’s the first year of doing it. Last year we had the events and planning committee. We had our program coordinators, and they were in two separate groups. We decided to put them together this year so that way they would be able to work more efficiently and have a bigger budget.”

Folk said he has high hopes for the board.

“We planned events that will just blow everything else that RHA has done in the past out of the water,” Folk said.

Applications for the board are available right now. They are due at 5 p.m. Monday, Sep. 10.

RHA spokeswoman Julie Larsen said joining RHA is a beneficial addition to your resume.

“RHA prepares you for a lot of different organizations that you would want to be in on campus,” Larsen said. “You’re going to have to know how to plan events.”

For Gewecke, the most important thing about RHA is individual growth and becoming your own leader.

“I’m really excited to see freshmen and sophomores and where they start off in Programming Board,” Gewecke said. ”Then, at the end of the year, see how much they have grown and what they can plan themselves without having to ask me questions. Basically, just to see people grow as leaders on campus. It’s going to be really exciting.”